A 2018 promotional video from Brinc depicts the tasing by drone of a person referred to as “José” at the U.S.-Mexico border.
(Picture: The Intercept.)A technology start-up built a prototype drone armed with a Taser to take down migrants at the US border, and it feels about as Black Mirror as it gets.
21-year-old Blake Resnick initially created his company, BRINC, to aid law enforcement agencies through the use of non-violent robots, following the mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017.
But it appears as though the company ended up considering a very different turn.
In a company promotional video obtained by The Intercept, BRINC appeared to have developed stun gun-armed drones to attack migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Although BRINC’s “Values & Ethics” states their “duty to bring these technologies into the world responsibly” and commits to “never build technologies designed to hurt or kill,” their 2018 promotional video proves that a different path was considered.
The Intercept shared a horrifying clip of what the Taser would look like in action on Twitter.
Blake Resnick claims that Brinc was founded “in large part” as a lifesaving response to the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. But a company promo video reveals a different vision: selling Taser-armed drones to attack migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. https://t.co/ZMBfDb8sqH pic.twitter.com/k3pnN2uubA
— The Intercept (@theintercept) December 14, 2021
Saying the drone is “a solution” designed to “fully secure the U.S-Mexico border,” the video features a Latinx actor who calls himself “José.” When he fails to provide satisfactory identification, the drone attacks him and leaves him incapacitated.
“Every year, over $100 billion of narcotics and half a million people flow through areas just like this one,” Resnick, who was recently inducted to the Forbes “30 Under 30” list, says in the full video.
The Intercept wrote: “Blake Resnick claims that Brinc was founded ‘in large part’ as a lifesaving response to the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. But a company promo video reveals a different vision: selling Taser-armed drones to attack migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Resnick told the outlet that the video in question is “immature, deeply regrettable and not at all representative of the direction I have taken the company in since.”
People expressed their horror with the pitched idea on social media.
Deeply racist and dystopian. There is seemingly no bottom. https://t.co/OnpzbFgSVk
— Surveillance Killjoy (@hypervisible) December 13, 2021
There’s always money in violence-against-minorities-stand https://t.co/VGk59u5mhr
— boots | Fight On (@BootsMcGuinness) December 13, 2021
Taser drone to electrocute people trying to cross US border, in todays hell scape dystopian startup news. https://t.co/BVhtlib7uS
— John Hamasaki (@HamasakiLaw) December 13, 2021
Drones are violent just by flying. They are loud and disruptive of habitats below them, they take #surveillance video, which compromises #privacy. They are a #security and safety risk for those below them. But "tasing migrants" is particularly violent. NOPE. https://t.co/DPPKnRCUR2
— Dr. S.A. Applin (@AnthroPunk) December 13, 2021
I don't think it should be so hard to include moral calculus into your internal discussions when inventing a new product
— Dredgen Phil Is In The Queue FOREVER (@Texas_Supernova) December 13, 2021
If your product visits more misery onto already miserable people, rethink your product https://t.co/NT5hh091KP
Big tech comes up with the most inhumane shit ever and acts like it’s somehow progressive https://t.co/BJh8li9FlX
— 💜JBright💜 (@JBrightt_) December 13, 2021
So many people could be housed with $25mil, instead we’re funding ideas inspired by mass shootings and aimed at tasing migrants. https://t.co/gnlYUrrjcA
— Jake Jackson (@JakeJJacksonRI) December 14, 2021
